Any long time Jackson Heights residents out there?

[Chuckster]

Wasn't there a Florsheim shoe store on the northeast corner of 37th Avenue and 82nd Street?

[eddiestjohns]

There was a Florsheim at that location.  I remember when I was in my early 20's their shoes seemed so expensive to me.  I don't think inflation on the price of shoes has been as high as inflation in general.

[Chuckster]

Eddie, in my opinion, men's shoes always seemed more expensive to me than women's shoes.  I remember buying shoes at a store on 82nd Street called Baker's.  In my early 20s, I could purchase a pair of fashionable shoes for about $20 to $25.  O.K., so probably not the best quality at the time, but cute shoes nonetheless.  I remember the prices for men's shoes at Florsheim's.  They were a lot more than $20!

[Birch-Ed]

Do you remember when you could go to 74th street and actually buy something like you can still do on 82 Street?  Do you remember seeing clean sidewalks on 74th and 73rd streets?

[Chuckster]

Do you remember when you could go to 74th street and actually buy something like you can still do on 82 Street?  Do you remember seeing clean sidewalks on 74th and 73rd streets?

To answer your first question, yep.  74th Street, as well as most of the neighborhood has seen quite a change over the years.

Regarding the issue of street cleanliness, you may be interested to know that there is a discussion on the topic going on here.  Feel free to continue discussing this at that thread.

[Birch-Ed]

Thanks Chuck.

You guys remember a small shoe store on the same side as Genovese but closer to 37th avenue?  During the 70's in the window display, they had a man's platform shoe with a siamese fighting fish inside the heel.

Also in the 70's, I worked in Fields on the corner of 82nd street.  I worked in the men's department with a few old timers at that time.  HMMM...I feel like I'm close to the age that the old timers were!   LOL!!!

[Chuckster]

Birch-Ed, seeing that you were an employee of Fields back in the day, would you care to share some of your sales tactics?  I remember that store being heavy on the sales push, and I imagine that all sales people were trained to aggressively target customers.  There were many times when I opted out of entering the store for that reason alone.  On an earlier post in this thread, I wrote that I once fell victim to the hard sell and placed an item on the store's lay-away plan.  I left a small deposit, which I ended up losing because I never returned.

I know, I know....I was probably their classic target customer.   :embarassed:

[Chuckster]

Here's a photo of Fields from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division website.  The date of the photo is listed as June 8, 1950. 

[Birch-Ed]

Chuckster...thanks for the picture.  I see that in the beginning Fields was only part of the block.  I'm not sure when the expanded to all of 37th avenue between 81 and 82 street.  I had heard that Fields was very popular with a few famous people and they used to attend the fashion shows held there in the 60's.

As for the sale tactics.  Yes...the salesmen were very aggressive.  They  attacked you like a rabid dog tearing at a piece of raw meat.  I was the young salesman.  I couldn't do what they did, I had my own way of doing things.  One time the head salesman, I think his name was Sid, told me I wasn't aggressive enough.  I asked him if he was disappointed at my sales record and he responded no.  So I told him that I must be doing something right, so he left me alone.

[Really4rob]

Wow!  This thread bought back so many memories.

It was so long I had to skim, so apologies if these answers are old news ...

The big toy store on Roosevelt?  TOY CITY!  Aisles and aisles of toys ... with LAY A WAY!  I spend allowances months in adavnce down there, on every Star Wars figure known to man.

And the Sizzler?  It wasn't always that ... until 1980 or so it was a KFC!  And Shop Wise which became Met Food didn't even have 14 (well, 13) aisles back then ... it was a few shorter and a pharmacy was on the other side.

And Dairy Farms across the street.  It was a Klien Sleep (spelling?).

Remember when Fields was covered in scaffolding for years ... ?

[resident1]

It was Florsheim store on the corner of 82nd and 37th avenue and a men's store on 82nd called Clapper's.

[meigui]

I remember the last days of the Northern Triplex. Art Deco faded glory, balcony,beautiful railings, 1920's moorish light fixtures, most of it painted a horrible high gloss blue. Did anyone ever go into the Polk? That was a tragic loss. There was a traditional Cantonese place called "Magic Lamp" on
Roosevelt and 76th . They had the roast pork, soy chicken, duck and ribs hanging up and did a killer congee with crueller. The place was filthy but it was good for takeout. Los Pollos Brasos on 37th was a carpet store with an art deco entrance that might still be there. On Broadway next to Pacific there was an irish bar called "Liffey Bar". It had a cobalt blue mirrored bar and lots of carved dark wood. Let us not forget the Jackson Heights Jewish Center on 82nd where PS212 now stands.The original Jackson Diner was an old diner that made homemade chicken salad(chopped while you waited) and served it with a dish of chole. They had a section of Indian food on the classic plastic coated diner menu. There was a fur storage place next to Trade Fair that had a danish modern desk that many of us lusted after.

[Really4rob]

Oh wow ... the movie theaters.

I forgot that before the only local option was the Jacskon (and honestly, we usually do the Astoria or Continental Avenue these days), we had the Colony on 82nd, and the Boulevard on Northern.

Long gone now, as was the theater we used to use as a treat, RKO Keiths in Flushing. 

[robl]

Glad to have found this message board. I was born in '62. Lived in Spanish Gardens 84th between Roosevelt and 37th and then my family moved in '67 to 74st off Broadway (technically Elmhurst but J.H. was across the street and Woodside behind us).

A few that I don't think were mentioned.

Blimpies on 74th a few doors down from Fern's

The butcher shop 74st and 37th rd. (was it ottomanelli?)

Fashion Rack on 74st.

Readypenny Inn 73st

Station Break Roosevelt 73st and 74th.

Bickfords on 74th and Broadway

Fannie Farmer 74th and Broadway

Pizza Den 74th and Broadway

Unisex Hair Cutter 74th and Broadway

Essex House 74th and Roosevelt (a classy looking diner that was Crazy Chicken until recently)

Purity Diner 75st and Roosevelt

Casa Bella Italian Restaurant 75th and Broadway

The Liffey Bar 76th and Broadway

Queensboro Lanes (underground bowling alley between 83rd and 84th and 37th ave

Small Video Store (name?) on 73st between 37ave and 35th ave closer to 37th ave.

A toy store on 83st and Roosevelt that had creaky wood floors (what was the name?)

There was a record store on 82nd st across from Genovese (what was the name?)

German deli on 74st and Roosevelt where you went down the steps to the subway

The Subway Arcade at Roosevelt Ave.

The pool hall above the bus terminal on 75th and Broadway.

I'm sure I can think of many more.

[Chuckster]

Welcom Robl!  I remember a few of the places you mention in your post including the butcher shop on 74th Street.  I don't think it was an Ottomanelli's though.  That was over in Woodside.

The Essex House diner -- Wow!  You're good with names.  I remember my parents taking us there for breakfast on weekend mornings.

The toy store on Roosevelt was Toy City.  Someone mentioned it in one of the posts above.

Do you remember around what year Baskin Robbins opened on 37th Avenue?  It just occurred to me that it had been a staple in the neighborhood for a very long time until its recent closing.  Carvel was across the street.